German bank WestLB has posted its financial results for 2008. The firm recorded a pre-tax profit of €26m, a significant improvement on its 2007 loss of almost €1.5bn, leaving a post-tax profit of €18m. In the single-entity accounts WestLB recorded a profit of €188m compared to a €1bn loss the previous year. The bank’s customer [...]
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has published a review of the Payments Council, which has been tasked with speeding up the time taken for electronic bank payments to clear. The review acknowledges that processes have speeded up but says further improvements are needed. Under the new service, which went live in May of last [...]
Allied Irish Bank (AIB) has been named in connection with an alleged £56 million property fraud. The City of London Police and Serious Fraud Office (SFO) have been working on an investigation that is ongoing and the SFO has today raided three addresses in London. According to reports, suspects in the case controlled companies that [...]
Independent investment bank Greenhill & Co., Inc. has announced that John Paynter is to join the firm as a senior adviser. Paynter’s primary task in his new role will be grow the firm’s advising activities. He brings with him 29 years of industry experience, during which time he worked for Cazenove as a corporate broking [...]
A group calling itself “Bank Bosses Are Criminals” has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Edinburgh home of former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief executive, Sir Fred Goodwin. Windows were broken and a car was damaged at the premises in the early hours of Wednesday morning, although it is understood that the disgraced [...]
The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has stated that the country’s debt is such that a further fiscal stimulus, thought to be favoured by the Prime Minister, is not possible. Governor King made his comments, reported by the BBC, whilst being questioned by the Treasury Select Committee. The Government announced a fiscal [...]
The home and cars of Sir Fred Goodwin, the banking pariah who as CEO led RBS into its disastrous purchase of Dutch Bank ABN AMRO, have been attacked by vandals, it has emerged. The Edinburgh home was vandalised during the night and had a number of ground floor windows broken. In addition Sir Fred’s car, [...]
HSBC has announced that it is cutting approximately 1,200 UK jobs. The bank, which employs around 58,000 people in the UK, has weathered the credit crisis well compared to most of its High Street rivals. However, it expects the operating environment for banks in Britain to remain extremely challenging for some time and is therefore [...]
Ahead of the ISA deadline of the 5th April, Fairinvestment.co.uk is advising savers to consider the benefits of investing in both cash and stocks and shares ISAs, given that interest rates for savers are at historic lows. In today’s savings climate the firm reckons that apportioning money between a cash ISA and a stocks and [...]
The BBC has reported that Abbey has disbanded its panel of 7,000 local solicitors, blaming the slowdown in the property market for the move. The law firms involved have previously handled Abbey’s interest in the conveyancing process when they act for house purchasers who have obtained mortgages from the bank. Typically they have been responsible [...]
The official measure of inflation, the CPI (Consumer Prices Index) has unexpectedly risen by 0.2% to 3.2%, confounding widespread forecasts of a decline. In addition, RPI (Retail Prices Index which is often used for wage negotiations and includes housing costs) fell only 0.1% to 0%, having been predicted by many to sink into negative territory. [...]
Piper Jaffray & co. has announced the appointment of Erik Carneal as a managing director within its business services group. In his new post Carneal will be based in the firm’s New York office, and brings almost a decade of industry experience to the post. He leaves behind the role of MD with Bank of [...]
Rolf Bögli has been named by Credit Suisse as the firm’s new head of Private Banking Switzerland, effective from 1 April. He succeeds Urs Dickenmann, who becomes head of the Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWI) arm of Private Banking Switzerland. Dickenmann has been with the firm for 23 years, and has occupied a range [...]
Wilkins Kennedy is warning that company liquidations are set to reach their highest levels for sixteen years. In the 12 months to the end of March, the accountancy firm expects liquidations to hit 23,713 as firms choose to cease trading and enter liquidation, rather than face insolvency. The forecast puts the number of liquidations 17% [...]
The FSA (Financial Services Authority) has given the green light to the proposed merger between the Scarborough Building Society and the Skipton Building Society. It was in early November last year that the two boards of the firms made the agreement, forecasting at the time that it would proceed in Q1 of 2009. Both societies [...]
James J. Schiro has been nominated by the Board of Directors of Goldman Sachs Group for election as an independent director in May when the firm’s shareholders gather. If the shareholders do elect him then Schiro would be one of 10 independent directors out of the 12 directors on the board, and would sit on [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) could tot up losses of between £400 million and £500 million in connection with the demise of Cattles, the doorstep lender that is in breach of its banking covenants. Cattles, which trades as Welcome Financial and Shopacheck, has issued a number of profit warnings this month and at the same [...]
Labour MP, Frank Field, will this week introduce a private member’s bill that proposes a ban on short-selling. According to a report in the Sunday Times, Mr Field has the support of 34 Labour MPs for the early-day motion, which would also require pension fund trustees to reveal whether their funds have been involved in [...]
Press reports suggest that the future of Dunfermline Building Society is at risk because of problems with its commercial loan book. Speaking to BBC Scotland’s Politics Show, Dunfermline and West Fife MP, Willie Rennie, has confirmed that he has “great concerns” about the reports and is urging Scottish ministers to “explore every possible avenue to [...]
